The caption on this photo read: “May Company Department Store golden jubilee, 8th Street and Broadway, 1931” but the May Co was founded in 1877, so their golden jubilee would have been in 1927. So I’m not really sure when this photo was taken, but I can say for sure that it’s a gorgeous image capturing a bygone age we’ll never see again. And the straw hats on those horses are pretty darned cute.
** UPDATE ** The 50th anniversary celebration was for Hamburger’s department store, which later merged with the May Company.
Kelly C. says: “The hats on what are actually mules, not horses. The giveaway are the very long ears.”
Bill C. says: “One of the old Hamburger guys even showed up with a golden key to start the festivities on July 25. The LA Times gave it a lot of coverage on July 24.
May Company store advertisement from the August 4, 1931 issue of the LA Times:
This is how looking north up Broadway from 8th looked in February 2023. The gloriously restored Tower Theater (now an Apple store) stands to the right. It opened on October 12, 1927, so it could have been there if the vintage photo is, in fact, from that year.
This is an interesting photo because by 1927 or 31 horse drawn street cars had been long since been replaced by electric ones like the one to the right. It’s undoubtedly there as you say for a special commemoration of the golden jubilee of the May Company. It was a nice nostalgic touch to the celebration for many in the photo who would have remembered the horse drawn street cars from their childhood.